Blow-out patch



L. P. CLARK.

BLOW-OUT PATCH.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 13, 1918.

Patented J My 15, 1919.

. contained air.

UNITED STATES PATENT outrun.

LESTER P. CLARK, 0F FANWOOD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ANTHONY L. STEBOR, JR., OF PIIAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY.

BLOW-OUT PATCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 15, 1919.

Application filed April 13, 1918. Serial No. 228,447.

To all whom it may concern. I I

Be it known that I, Lns'rnn P. CLARK, a citizen of the United States, residing in F anwood, in the county-of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Improvements in Blow-Out. Patches, of

.which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to blow-out patches or devices for locally strengthening a pneumatic tire. when perforated or weakened. My invention has particular reference to inside blow-out patches which are interposed between the shoe and inner tube of a combination pneumatic tire to prevent the inner tube from bursting through a perforation or weak spot in the shoe under pressure of the strength, it has been found that a serious diificulty arises from the extreme flexibility or fiimsiness of such materials. The inner tube tends constantly to force the patch through the blow-out or weak spot, thus causing a bulge in the patch which becomes more and more pronounced until it fails to protect the perforation, and in some cases is even carried bodily through the shoe by the bursting of the inner tube. The displacement of the patch is assisted by the rotation of the vehicle Wheel, which causes the patch to'be alternately flattened out, (as when adjacent to the ground), and bulged at other points of therevolution. Relative motion is thus set up between the shoe, patch, and inner tube, and this motion will ordinarily be constant in direction, so that eventually the blow-out or weak spot will be uncovered. In order to remedy the above mentioned defects, various expedients have been proposed, such as fastening devices which se of special fastening devices, so that the patch may be permanently adjusted in working position by simply inserting it between the inner tube and the shoe.

In its broadest aspect my invention consists in a blow-out patch which is stiifer or more rigid than those now in use. Ihave discovered that. by the use of auxiliary stiffening means a blow-out patch can be produced which will have little or no tendency to creep or become displaced, presumably because the stiffened patch will not bulge, thus eliminating, partially at least, the relative motion between the patch and shoe which ultimately causes a displacement sufiicient to defeat the purpose for which the patch is used. I

Other features of my invention relate to details of construction in the illustrative embodiment of my invention shown in the accompanying drawings and hereinafter described.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a view, partly broken away, of the outer or tread surface of a preferred embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal, central, sectional view of the same, and

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of an assembled pneumatic tire with my patch in operative relation to a blow-out or perforation in a shoe or casing.

Referrin more particularly to the drawings, the bow-out patch there shown consists of a body portion 1, and auxuliary 'stifiening means 2. The patch as a whole should be curved both transversely and longitudinally so as to approximately conform, as regards curvature, to an inflated pneumatic tire. In Fig. 3 I have shown a shoe or outer casing 4., having a blow-out perforation 5, and an inner inflated tube 6. The outer or tread surface of the patch is preferably modified by the addition of means for increasing the frictional co-eliicient of the surface with respect to the inner surface of the shoe or casing with which it contacts; such means comprising in the illustration, suction cups 3. These suction cups or their equivalent will counteract any tendency which there may be toward displacement ofthe patch. But it should be understood that I do not consider this feature absolutely essential and my invention 15 not limited in this. respect.

The body, 1, may consist of any suitable material, as rubber or linen, or a built-up fabric of rubber and linen, or other suitable material. The stiffening member 2 in the illustration consists of aloosely woven fabric of strips or wires of a material which is more rigid than the material of which the body portion is made up. While any degree of rigidity will answer the conditions of my invention, I prefer to employ stripsor wires of high elasticity and some degree of flexibility in order that the patch may approximately follow the changes in form which are undergone by a pneumatic tire when in use.

As a result of my experiments, I prefer a patch in which a fabric 2, of fairly stiff piano wire is wholly embedded in a molded sheet of rubber 1. The reinforcing fabric 2 should be smaller than the body portion 1, in order to leave a soft, yielding margin 4 at the edges of the patch. This soft margin 4 protects the inner tube and shoe from the stifi, preferably metallic, member 2.

If constructed in the manner described, the rubber Will be very intimately associated with the stiffening member 2, particularly if the mesh of 2' is sufficiently large so that the inner and outer layers 'of'rubber will be held together by a large numberof connecting cords of rubber, passing through the meshes.

It will be obvious that within the scope of my invention many forms of stiffening members and many modes of uniting them to the patch can be devised; and I do not wish to be understood. as limiting myself to any of the details of construction shown.

I claim:

1. A blow-out patch, comprising a reinforcing wire fabric, coated on both sides with rubber to form abody of substantially even thickness throughout its main body portion, and having on its outer surface vacuum cups; whereby the patch may be placed and held Withoutadditional holding devices in any position within a casing.

'2. A blow-out patch such as set forth in claim 1, in which the'vacuum cups have central bosses.

L. P, CLARK. 

